Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Blog

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Blog

[Presentation]: The Bambi Plague in the Eastern Deciduous Forest of the U.S.

For wildflowers and saplings in Pennsylvania's forests, Bambi may well be Public Enemy Number One. The overpopulation of white-tailed deer contributes to a host of problems. Deer can turn a native plant into an invasive one, stop the regeneration of a forest understory dead in its tracks, and yes...they can even encourage colonies of voracious rodents. Who knew one friendly-looking woodland creature could wreak so much havoc?

Today's presentation from "Preserving Pittsburgh's Trees: Action and Recovery" is courtesy of University of Pittsburgh professor Dr. Walter Carson, who works in the fields of Plant Community Ecology and Tropical and Temperate Forest Ecology. He shares some fascinating information about how the deer imbalance in the ecosystem leads to the dominance of only a few plant species and keeps the cycle of canopy regeneration from functioning properly.